For man accused of killing Brackenridge Police Chief Justin McIntire, criminal justice system had been revolving door
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — For the man accused of killing the Brackenridge police chief, the criminal justice system had been a revolving door.
Despite repeated arrests, outstanding warrants and being charged in another homicide, Aaron Swan was on probation when he allegedly killed Brackenridge Police Chief Justin McIntire on Monday.
Swan already had a record in 2014 when he was arrested for discharging a gun and running from police officers in East Liberty. But in exchange for guilty pleas for reckless endangerment, he was only given probation.
The same year he was arrested again with co-defendant Juston Bonner and charged in the shooting death of Leonard Young. This time in return for his cooperation, Swan struck a plea deal and the judge sentenced him to three to six years for robbery and conspiracy.
But just two years later, he was out on the street, arrested for drug sales and given probation yet again. Laurie MacDonald of the Center for Victims says criminal justice has become a revolving door.
"You commit a crime one time, OK, we'll give you a second chance," MacDonald said. "But a third chance, a four chance, a fifth chance, it's ludicrous."
Police sources say when Swan shot and killed McIntire on Monday, there were three outstanding warrants for his arrest. One for a probation violation, another for breaking into cars on the South Side in November and stealing a Glock, and a third for a domestic assault in Penn Hills on Christmas Day.
"This man was a police officer who dedicated his life, a police chief who dedicated his life to our safety," MacDonald said. "And this guy who committed so many crimes is the person who ended his life. That's not right."
To many police and victims' advocates, the Swan case has become the rule rather than the exception, where criminals are repeatedly arrested and released sometime to tragic consequences.